NEW YORK, (ST)-The support provided to Israel by Security Council Permanent member states encourages it to behave arrogantly and commit violations that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, Syria's Permanent Representative at the United Nations Bashar Al-Jaafari has stressed.

During a Security Council Session on the situation in the Middle East on Wednesday, al-Jaafari criticized the statement of the British representative which expressed the pride of the successive governments of his country in Balfour Declaration, which is legally known at the international level as "a promise from who doesn’t own to who doesn’t deserve.”

"The support and protection provided by some states to Israel, including permanent Security Council members, in addition to the deliberate blocking of tens of resolutions aiming to end Israeli occupation of Arab territories, have encouraged the Zionist entity to behave arrogantly in the region and even at the Security Council Hall," said al-Jaafari.

He added "such support also helped Israel expand and swallow more Palestinian and Arab lands and commit crimes as well as systematic violations against international humanitarian law and human right law," stressing that ""all these violations amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."